New Hampton Tribune

Supervisors stick with original salary decision

Sat, 02/03/2018 - 7:00amBob Fenske

Chairman revisits issue

By:

James Grob

After a lot of talk and some spirited debate — complete with a lesson from the county sheriff — the Chickasaw County Board of Supervisors voted 3-1 to keep the salaries of elected officials at the same levels they had already decided on in December.

At that time, the board voted 3-2 to reduce the salary recommendations of the compensation board by 60 percent.

The county sheriff will be paid $76,885, an increase of 5.5 percent. The county auditor will be paid $58,981, an increase of 7.3 percent. The county treasurer and county recorder will each be paid $58,973, an increase of 7.3 percent. The county attorney will be paid $101,163, an increase of four percent.

The salary numbers are just base salaries, and do not include the additional taxpayer money necessary to fund required employee benefits, such as health insurance and retirement savings. They will take effect for the fiscal year, beginning July 1, 2018.

Last year, the salaries were increased two percent across the board.

Members present Monday were chairman Jacob Hackman and supervisors Tim Zoll, Steve Geerts and Dan Carolan. Supervisor David Tilkes was absent due to illness. Several county employees and members of the public attended the meeting, which was moved from the board room to the upstairs court room in anticipation of a larger crowd.

Hackman said he wanted to revisit the salary issue after hearing from the public and looking at the salary recommendations of area counties.

"I put this back on the agenda after research done by the county attorney, to be sure we could revisit this motion," he said. "Other counties in this area have not given these seven-and-a-half percent raises, or six percent, or four percent. I'm asking the board to please revisit this and hold a discussion."

In late November, the county compensation board, consisting of members Roger Hansen, Mike Kennedy, Bill Meyer, Kurt Croell, Brian Quirk and Steve Lynch, unanimously recommended salary increases for all positions.